Jul 17, 2006 6:29 pm US/Eastern
U.N.: U.S. Should Set Better Human Rights Example
GENEVA (AP) ―
-
-
Border patrol along the New Mexico and Mexico border.
AP
The United States must set a better example for the world in areas ranging from its treatment of Latin American migrants to its handling of detainees in the war on terror, U.N. human rights experts said Monday.
The U.N. Human Rights Committee is conducting a periodic review of Washington's adherence to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The committee is expected to issue conclusions before the end of the month.
Criticism by the panel brings no penalties beyond international scrutiny.
Member Hipolito Solari Yrigoyen, an Argentine lawyer and human rights activist, said he worried about U.S. efforts to deal with illegal migrants from Mexico.
Hundreds of National Guard troops have been deployed along the border in an effort to stop illegal immigration.
"My major concern ... is the level of militarization on the border with Mexico," he said. "Militarization of the border creates a conflict zone."
Panel member Sir Nigel Rodley, a British law professor, criticized the alleged U.S. practice of holding detainees in the war on terror incommunicado for long periods.
Abdelfattah Amor, a senior Tunisian law professor, noted allegations of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the U.S. detention center for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The U.S. delegation steered clear of such questions.
"While the U.S. obligations under the covenant do not apply outside of U.S. territory, it is important to recall that there is a body of both domestic and international law that protects individuals outside U.S. territory," said State Department official Matthew Waxman.
About 40 human rights groups sent representatives to meet separately with the committee and monitor proceedings. Amnesty International said it had raised a number of issues, including the death penalty, supermaximum security prisons and life sentences for those who committed crimes as juveniles.
Other questions from the panel concerned racial discrimination, the rights of native Americans and the treatment of African-Americans in the Gulf Coast area before and after Hurricane Katrina.
In May, the top U.N. anti-torture panel recommended the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, and criticized alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected delivery of prisoners to foreign countries for interrogation.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments